tokyo0one

heh yeah Vancouver is the perfect place until the rain starts to pour


HAHAHA STARFISH FTW!!!

Anyways, i couldn't expect the ride height to be any better. Plus I'm surprised the ride comfort didn't change too much from stock. Think I should put in some spacers though.

On another note. WHEN ARE YOU COMING BACK TO VISIT!!!!!


I went to Advance Motorsports in Coquitlam. Great knowledgeable staff and decent price.


Oh man thanks for telling me. This is why i love this forum, people here know their stuff and are willing help each other out. Since I'm not a big mechanics guy you've just saved me a set of tires!! BTW what jumped out at you to indicate that an alignment is needed??

tokyo0one

So as can be seen in my pictures the outside edge of all the tires are being worn out. Is this normal with the TOYO T1Rs or, as suggested by ohlord, that its the result of bad alignment due to the drop??

I've also noticed that no matter how much air i pump into the tires they always seem quite flat. Is it normal???

Thanks in advance.

FrankW

actually suggestion by ohlord will not help...because the W203 can't adjust camber without camber bolts or camber arms. you either need to get those which is around $350 for the camber arms for the rear or around $300 for full set of kmac camber bolts front and rear. getting an alignment helps, but to very little effects on our cars. you can probably adjust the toe-in a little bit, but not gonna help much.

i couldn't tell any difference before and after getting the alignment done when I installed the RENNtech springs. and note that I never did another alignment after getting the coilover installed. I have no issue with car pulling left or right or un-even tire wear. all I did to solve the rear camber issue was to get a set of camber arms.

The front tire wearing on the outside is pretty much normal when you had it on stock height. the reason is that on the US spec C32s we have the positive camber thanks to the stupid US springs plus the MB's aggresive caster which allows you to turn the wheel almost 90deg when making u-turn puts all the pressure on the shoulder of the tire. You will be fine now that you have lowered the car which will have some negative camber. don't bother getting camber bolts on the front to make it 0 camber because that would still wear out the shoulder still (mig888 can confirm that).

my tire wear problem for the front (same as yours) went away after the car was lowered. It has the most perfect even wear I've seen on any w203.

toyos will seem flat because they have rounded sidewalls.

tokyo0one

Thanks for the quick reply.

So what you're saying is that i should invest in a set of camber arms so i can adjust the rear camber?? Best case scenario would be to adjust rear camber to 0 degrees which would solve any uneven wear issues i may be having, correct?

In your opinion would the tires really wear out noticeably quicker if i end up doing nothing?

I know its obviously more advisable to go ahead with the camber arms and realignment but I dont really want to spend another $500-$600 if its not absolutely necessary.

Alex@wheelexperts

looks great

FrankW

without the camber arm for the rear you will see significant wear on the inside of the rear tire after about 5k miles say if you have new tires on them. what you can do is dismount them and swap them side to side every 5k miles to keep the tire wear even and to last as long as possible if you decide not to opt for the camber arm. I was swapping rear tires side to side until i finally got the camber arm.

ohlord

I will forgive you for your lack of knowledge about my advice.We have the same issues on the w210's and if I left out all the data listed below to validate my suggestions it is because I assume(and you know what happens when you do that) That most members have at least a passing knowledge of suspension geometry and how it affects handling.We are on the same page,you just did not assume
When he goes to a mb dealer shop with the proper hunter machine,they will install camber eccentric bolts to adjust the front suspension if out of spec.They also will require he bring in a set of speedybenz links for the rear or the units from K-mac.
Lensolo also makes a nice link kit if you search the forums.

MB has the proper alignment machine and if he can't diy the speedybenz or lensolo links,a good shop can install and then they will set it to spec.
I am glad you did not have to get camber eccentrics for the front on your car,most people do if the drop was big enough to negate the positive camber.
The rear of his car is another issue entirely not only tire wear,handling from excessive negative camber from street spec of -.5 degrees to a drop like he just completed ,of neg 2.5-3 degrees is not only going to require links being installed or the k-mac units it will require a good alignment.Swapping sides is the poor mans way of taking care of the inner tire wear issue.
Between tire side swaps how do you propose he solve the handling issues when he gets into a turn a bit to fast and the car reacts in a less then favorable manner?Scream?
His tires nor yours should have worn out from the outer edge.When AMG did the modifications they lowered the car an inch lower then the regular C model and set the proper specs.If your tires wore out outside first it was poor alignment and could have easily been adjusted.
tokyo0one Swap sides like Frank suggests and save your money up to install the suspension mods per Frank.Meanwhile Practice not jumping on the brakes and straightening the steering wheel a bit if the *** end gets loose and starts to come around on you Or until you can afford the above mentioned rear camber kit bump up your rear tire pressure about 6 psi.Or come south of the border and You can practice oversteer correction on one of my instructional track cars.Mo fun than a barrel o monkeys
You drive stick?

ohlord

more151please

car looks amazingly aggressive!

FrankW

ohlord,

I don't know if you have a w203 or not. Tire wear on the outer edge of the two front wheel exist almost on every w203. the C55 is the only w203 model which I haven't heard people that has this issue or at least not as bad as the C32 or other C-classes.

the US spec C32 was an inch lower than the US spec C320, but it is 3/4 inch higher than the Euro spec C32. When I had my RENNtech springs the ride height was probably 1/4 lower than the Euro spec cars. The alignment was done at the dealership and believe it or not I still had the issue with outer edge wear although not as bad as stock. keep in mind that the alignment wasn't out of wack when they did the alignment. There were virtually no difference.

ohlord

new things to consider every day.
At least he can live with the set up for now like you did, modify it later.
Thanks for the information.
ohlord

tokyo0one

WOW.
Thanks for all the effort you guys are putting into solving my tire issue. However, since my TOYOs are directional tires and i have yet searched the result of misplacing directional tires, i'm somewhat hesitant to swap the tires.
EDIT: So i did a search and i guess the above issue wont have any hazardous results. Should i do it for both front and rear??

Frank, did you purchase the camber arms and installed in a shop then brought the car to MB to do the alignment? Because i did a little search and some members have brought their cars to MB for an alignment and MB charged extra for a set of camber bolts to do the alignment. I just dont know if thats the way to go or to purchase a set of kmac camber kits, install it, then bring it to MB. Because i dont know the difference between camber bolts and camber arms, i'm not sure which route i should take. Do camber arms last longer than the bolts, more adjustability?? Anyways i'll be taking a visit to the stealer to get a quote.

BTW, ohlord i'll definitely give you a shout if i come to Seattle during the summer

moosejaw

It rains here everyday in summer in Miami, that's the tropics 4 ya! Pours so hard it's impossible to drive

ohlord

http://speedybenz.com/documents/home.html
has install instructions so you can see what is involved
http://www.k-mac.com.au/
The second link displaying K-mac units has a pretty good list for increasing understeer and oversteering in the tuning section.Now this is for cars that go to the track.
You on the street want to have a bit of understeer and AMG provided you with that and the eccentric bolts installed where they need them(up to 4 total)will get the right angles set.
The rear kit or the speedy camber link will let you set the camber angle from the far minus angle that it gets down to when you drop the rear end and put it back to a more street friendly -.5 or so,when the angle is to far neg. it induces oversteer meaning the rear tires lose grip and in a turn the back end slides out from behind you.Race car`drivers can induce or reduce both to suit their needs to get around the track faster.You I doubt want to have your back end sliding away from you on an expressway entrance curve
enjoy the new set up,it is beautiful.
the k-mac list ,just swap whatever is in the oversteer column with the items in the understeer column i.e. to reduce oversteering brought on by to neg rear camber decrease rear end weight(take junk out of the trunk)
increase rear tire pressure etc.
ohlord
I think Frank is either a real stickler for getting his ride just perfect or he has spend a fair bit of time on the track honing his driving skills

FrankW

even with the crash bolts that the dealer provides at extra charge that you won't get that much adjustment/correction for the rear camber to have major effect on how the rear tire will worn out. IMO depends on how much you want to spent.

the arms offer infinite way more adjustability than the camber bolts. durability shouldn't be a problem with either setup. I have the lensolo camber arm btw and did the adjustment myself. the stock arm is a pain to remove due to the dust cover for the brakes are bigger on the c32 than the normal C.

ohlord

worlds,adjust camber angles on the fly and keep your ride quality and your drop.
Like Frank said just depends on how much you want to spend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcVj_5Ev6bk
5 inch drop,tunable,independent corner to corner adjustments,only 5grand before install
That thing could save some fuel,you could just sit in it all day and go up, go down,on and on
ohlord

tokyo0one

^^

That is sick!! but yeah....definitely not prepared to fork out that kind of cash.

I've just gone to the dealers and they quoted me about $300CAD for the alignment and the camber bolts. However, they will need me to put my stock rims back on in order to do the alignment. The thing is they're not sure if they can return the camber angle to what i want (-0.5 to 0). "We'll try our best" is what they said, but I've heard a lot of "try out best" and i'm just not sure. Thinking about this shop which specializes in alignments. Heard alot of good feedbacks from my local forums about that shop so i might go that route.

The camber arm ohlord mentioned seems like just what i need so i guess i've made my decision.

Thanks for all the help You guys have saved me from a world of trouble and i cant thank you enough!!!!!

ohlord

drop,they might just want to protect the rims from damage and you making a claim.Front camber they might get close,like Frank and I are saying rears they will get no where without a kit.Franks Lensolos come out of someplace in Socal
I think.
One of the members on the w210 forum had a group discount link or something.
Enjoy
ohlord

tokyo0one

Well they said the stock rims are needed because there are these holes on the rims, beside the bolts, that are required to do an alignment